SPRINGDALE — Hailey McNee found a spot she liked Thursday night, and she continued to serve the ball that direction until Springdale High did something about it.
The Bentonville senior recorded five straight aces before the Lady Red’Dogs made a defensive change, but the Lady Tigers were far from finished. McNee’s aces were part of a 13-1 tear in the first set, and Bentonville went on to post a 3-0 sweep in 7A/6A-West Conference action Bulldog Gymnasium.
McNee added two more aces in the second set and finished the match with 10 kills and nine digs to lead Bentonville (19-4, 10-1) to a 25-10, 25-9, 25-14 decision.
“The girls came out and were focused from 0-0, not when the game was shaky,” Lady Tigers coach Michelle Smith said. “They worried more about their side of the net and cutting down on our unforced errors, and that was nice to see.
“It was nice to see the girls smiling and having fun. They enjoyed the night. They weren’t so stressed and worrying about every single point, and overall, the team played much better.”
Springdale (8-11, 5-6) led 6-5 before Bentonville scored four straight points and took the lead for good in the fi rst set. McNee had two of those points on kills, then she served for nine consecutive Lady Tiger points to blow the game open.
Bentonville then controlled the second set from the start as the Lady Tigers had a 9-2 run, followed by a 10-1 outburst for a 20-5 lead after a Sabrina Shepherd block.
“It’s what we’ve been talking about all year long — finding a way to fi nish the play, get through a sideout and keeping the ball on our side,” Springdale coach Amanda Williford said. “As soon as she started serving ace after ace, that started the mind game that we’ve been working on to get out of the funk.
“Once we got out of that rotation, we played pretty well. We played hard for the rest of the match.”
The Lady Red’Dogs kept things much closer in the third set and trailed 17-11 on Laney Rhoades’ kill before Bentonville put the match away.
Shepherd had five kills and six blocks, including four solos, for the Lady Tigers, while Ariel Hornsby chipped in five kills and three blocks. Haley Seyfarth contributed with 27 assists.